Hello everyone!
March kicked off with a bang as OUSA headed to Western’s campus for a jam-packed five days. Wednesday was our campus visit, where we had the opportunity to chat with Western students about all things OUSA — what we do, the fees students pay, key provincial legislation, and how they can get involved with our organization.
From there, the Western University Students’ Council hosted our 63rd General Assembly (GA) from Thursday to Sunday.
The conference opened with a meaningful welcome from Elder Mary Lou Smoke, the Elder-In-Residence at the Wampum Lodge. She shared an inspiring account of resistance and community care and taught us The Water Song.
The papers we discussed this time were Student Mobility & Credit Transfer; Tuition, Ancillary & Incidental Fees; and our brand-new Artificial Intelligence paper. We had robust and meaningful conversations about how these papers could be strengthened to better represent our diverse student bodies and their needs. A huge thank you to Omar, our Steering Committee member from USC, and Claudia, our Manager of Operations, for planning such a successful conference! Tobi, our Manager of Communications, has already posted a recap blog of GA, which you can read here.
Following GA, Octave (Executive Director), Omar (VP: Finance), and I met with the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security’s policy team, along with staff from the Minister’s office, to discuss the recent changes to OSAP. We raised student concerns and gave them the opportunity to further explain the rationale behind these decisions. They clarified that changes to grants and loans will only impact the provincial portion of OSAP funding — not the federal portion — and that a new estimated student aid calculator is expected to be released in May.
On the publications side, we’re excited to share that the 2026 edition of Shared Perspectives, focused on civic engagement, is out now! This joint publication with the British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS), the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), the College Student Alliance (CSA), Ontario Student Voices (OSV), and OUSA explores how we can continue engaging young people in politics — especially given that, in the past five years, every province has had at least one election, alongside two federal elections. Be sure to check out the press release here!
As well, we are hiring summer interns! We’re looking for two Research Interns and one Advocacy and Communications Intern to join our wonderful Home Office team this summer. The positions are available to any undergraduate students (including graduating students) at one of our OUSA member schools. If you’re interested in advocacy, policy, research, and/or communications, check out the job postings here and here!
Lastly, for my monthly music recommendation: EVERYONE’S A STAR! by 5 Seconds of Summer. It dropped in October and didn’t get nearly enough attention. Honestly, I think it’s their best album to date — punchy melodies, great vocals, and a tight 12-track run with little to no filler. Absolutely excellent!
That’s all from me! Talk soon!
In solidarity,
Sayak